The family of Enrique Delgado-Garcia says they are grateful that Massachusetts State Police training staff are being held accountable for his death nearly two years ago.
On Monday, following a lengthy investigation by independent attorney David Meier, a grand jury indicted a state police academy supervisor and three instructors for the death of 25-year old Delgado-Garcia during a boxing training exercise in 2024.
“The family is gratified that there’s finally some progress here and that it seems to be a fair process up to this point that seems to be thorough,” said family attorney Michael Wilcox.
Lt. Jennifer Penton and Troopers Edwin Rodrigues, David Montanez and Casey Lamonte face charges of involuntary manslaughter and causing serious bodily injury. Penton is also facing a perjury charge.
“Nothing is going to bring Enrique back and they know that and they understand that,” Wilcox said. “They want his legacy to be that there’s going to be some change as a result of this, some real reform, not some sort of window dressing reform. Something meaningful [for] the entire way that they train these young men and women, so that you don’t put them in harm’s way for unnecessary reasons.”
Meier led a nearly 17-month long investigation into Delgado-Garcia’s death.
He said that the four MSP recruits “committed a series of wanton and reckless acts and omissions that resulted in Enrique Delgado-Garcia’s death.”
Delgado-Garcia, a Worcester resident of Puerto-Rican descent, collapsed following a boxing session during a State Police training academy boxing session. He died from serious head injuries on Sept. 12, 2024, but was sworn in as a trooper before his death.
Since Delgado-Garcia’s death, Wilcox has advocated against the use of boxing in the MSP academy training program. He said the sport has a high degree of risk of injury, and Delgado-Garcia was not a trained boxer.
“I don’t understand why he was allowed to go into the boxing ring after suffering concussion-like symptoms the day before while sparring. You cannot convince me that there wasn’t, at best, some rot within the state police academy in terms of not following the instructions that they themselves put in place,” Wilcox said.
In May 2025, the state police enacted a series of reforms regarding the training academy and its leadership and suspended the boxing program.
Prior to his MSP academy training, Delgado-Garcia worked in Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early’s office as a victim witness advocate. And because he was a well-known and liked former employee in his office, Early recused himself from the case, asking the state attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor.
Today, the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) suspended the law enforcement certification of all four of the MSP academy staffers charged in the case.
Wilcox said the four staffers will be arraigned before the long process of discovery begins. He said it will probably go to trial in a year or two, unless there is a plea.
The family, Wilcox said, has been and will continue to be respectful of the process.
“They have been patient and they have stayed silent when they wanted to speak because they want this process to be fair,” he said. “They are not vindictive people. They want this to be fair and objective.”
